my hit list.

what's on your reading list, both currently and what you're planning on reading soon?

here's my current list:

war of words, by paul david tripp. i first read this book over the summer and now we're reading it for bible study, so it is great to have a chance to re-look and re-think so many things. it's insightful and practical, and shows just how important our words really are. tons of Scripture is used throughout. while tripp acknowledges the helplessness and hopelessness of our sin, he writes entire chapters to show exactly how the gospel of Christ addresses our fallen lives and our muddled speech. tripp "understands that the war of words is really part of a deeper war: the war for our hearts and souls, the war between the Word made flesh, and the enemy, whose primary tools are words of distortion, deception, and destruction." this is probably in my top 5 favorite books ever.

running with scissors, by augusten burroughs. if i could describe this book in one word it would be intense. this is the memoir of a nightmarish youth, who is the son of a poet with a "wild mental imbalance" and a professor with a "pitch-black dark side." burroughs is sent to live with dr. finch when his parents separate and his mother comes out as a lesbian. there are lots of scenes where if it were a movie (actually it is i think), i would close my eyes and cover my ears, but i think they are necessary to the memoir in order to really understand this boy's childhood. i'm not sure how i feel about it halfway through the book, but from reading this, i think it's true that truth really is stranger than fiction. i'll let you know if this book has some redeeming end qualities.

the heart of prayer, by jerram barrs. i love this book because it shows me prayer from God's point of view. sometimes i get so wrapped up in if i'm praying right, or for the right things, or praying enough, when really, God just wants us to come to him. jerram writes: "we don't need to be afraid to come to God, as if he were a person we must be careful not to disturb, or around whom we must tread on tiptoes and speak with care." so often we turn prayer into a work, and this book shows the true "heart of prayer." God doesn't hold this standard that we must reach when we pray, he is simply there and willing for us to come to him with our honest thoughts, triumphs, and griefs. focusing on our performance takes away the joy and "childlike dependence" of prayer. the gentleness of jerram emerges through the pages when you read this book.

don't waste your life, by john piper. in this book, piper comes right out and calls people to bigger and better things. he explains what it means to waste your life--a true tragedy of living without a passion for God, spending lives on "trivial diversions," and getting caught up in something that counts for nothing. i think he really wants to draw attention to the futility of average, everyday life, settling for complacency and boredom instead of your desires and passions. i wish that he would talk about the will of God more. because ultimately, we will find the most joy and satisfaction in what he calls us to do and in what he designs us to do, whether that calling is in something that seems as mundane as an office job or whether that is spending your life in africa serving orphans. the challenge of this book is good, but my fear is that it will give some people the idea that the only way to serve the Lord is by doing something life-threatening, risky, and completely without any trivial comfort.